Chapter 34 - Whatever Hell Training It May Be

Tae Jong-soo was flabbergasted.

Because Baek Hyeon-woo had accurately guessed his lower back pain, even though he hadn't said a word.

“How did you know that my back hurts?”

“I know just by looking.”

“No, you call that an answer...”

As Tae Jong-soo spoke in an annoyed voice, Baek Yeon-ah urgently cut in.

“Jong-soo-ya, this kid originally worked at a hospital.”

“A hospital?”

“That's why he can tell right away when he sees a sick person. Because his skills are amazing.”

When they were exchanging greetings earlier, he had only heard that he was a nephew who was helping with company work.

But he's someone who worked at a hospital?

“Then are you a doctor?”

“No.”

Baek Hyeon-woo shook his head.

“I originally worked as a physical therapist.”

“A physical therapist?”

Tae Jong-soo felt a sense of disappointment.

To think he was just a physical therapist when I thought he was a doctor.

Then again, there's no way a person with a doctor's license would be working at an entertainment agency.

“Isn't a physical therapist someone who gives you electrotherapy at a hospital? But how can you know someone's back hurts just by looking at them?”

“It's uncomfortable when you stand up after sitting, isn't it?”

Tae Jong-soo's eyes widened at the words Baek Hyeon-woo had thrown out of the blue.

Because he was accurately pointing out Tae Jong-soo's symptoms.

“It's fine when you're just walking around, but you probably have pain when there's a change in posture, like when standing up from a chair.”

“H-How did you...”

“And the pain isn't in the center of your back towards the spine, but on either the left or the right side, right?”

“……!”

Tae Jong-soo inadvertently touched the right side of his back.

“Y-Yes, it certainly only hurts on the right side...”

“Just as I thought.”

“No, how can you know just by looking with your eyes?”

“I have studied such musculoskeletal disorders a lot.”

Baek Hyeon-woo answered in a calm voice.

“I'm not sure if you saw a physical therapy clinic run by a physical therapist when you were in America. In Korea, physical therapists are not allowed to make diagnoses, but originally, such diagnostic methods are all included in the study of physical therapy.”

“Ah…”

As Tae Jong-soo was expressing his admiration, Baek Yeon-ah quickly cut in and chattered on.

“Jong-soo-ya, I told you. This kid's skills are amazing.”

“Y-Yes, it certainly seems so.”

Actually, Baek Hyeon-woo had been thinking that there was a problem with Tae Jong-soo's back from the first time he saw him.

When he entered the office with Baek Yeon-ah, Tae Jong-soo had stood up from his seat to greet them, and he had felt something unnatural in the way he stood up.

After that, observing his every move, it certainly seemed he had lower back pain.

‘Discomfort when standing up from a chair can have various causes. It could be a quadratus lumborum problem, or an iliopsoas problem...’

Of course, to make an accurate diagnosis, one has to examine in detail by touching with hands and having the person perform various movements.

No matter how much one has studied, it's difficult to know the cause just by looking with one's eyes.

However... Baek Hyeon-woo was able to see through to the cause just by looking with his eyes.

–––––––––

[Tae Jong-soo]

Vocal: S

Dance: F

Visual: D

Potential: F

Body Condition: 70%

Mental Condition: 80%

– Pain is occurring due to a problem with the sacroiliac joint of the trunk.

–––––––––

Right now, Tae Jong-soo's status window was visible in Baek Hyeon-woo's eyes.

Just like with Baek Yeon-ah, even if he was a singer who had already retired from the entertainment industry, he could see the status window.

Therefore, he was able to discern that the cause of Tae Jong-soo's lower back pain was the sacroiliac joint.

“Right now, you have a problem in the area called the sacroiliac joint.”

“The s-sacroiliac joint?”

“It's the joint that connects the sacrum, commonly called the tailbone, and the ilium, which is the hip bone.”

Saying that, Baek Hyeon-woo touched his own lower back.

If you touch a spot about 3cm away from the spine at the height that marks the boundary between the back and the buttocks, you can feel a hard bone, and the sacroiliac joint is near there.

“If there is a problem with the sacroiliac joint, unilateral lower back pain appears. The pain isn't in the center, nor is it on both sides; a pain that is biased to either the left or the right side appears.”

“Ah…!”

“Originally, the role of the sacroiliac joint is to absorb the shock that occurs when the spine moves in various directions. Therefore, if the sacroiliac joint is not functioning smoothly, the shock cannot be absorbed, and pain occurs.”

The sacroiliac joint is stimulated every time the posture changes.

Therefore, you feel pain when performing movements such as standing up from a chair.

On the other hand, it's relatively fine when you're just standing or walking.

“If you don't mind, may I take a look?”

“R-Right now?”

“Yes, please lie face down on the sofa.”

“……”

Tae Jong-soo hesitated in an awkward posture, but in the end, he did as he was told.

Before he knew it, Baek Hyeon-woo was the one in control of the situation.

“First, I'll need to pull down your pants a bit...”

“Ah, I'll step out for a bit.”

Perhaps embarrassed that her junior was showing his butt, Baek Yeon-ah left the room.

Baek Hyeon-woo pulled down Tae Jong-soo's pants and underwear at the same time, exposing the upper part of his buttocks.

“This is the part that's not good.”

“Ugh…!”

As he pressed the area around the right sacroiliac joint with his fingers, a groan escaped from Tae Jong-soo's lips.

It was proof that that area was the real cause.

“I received physical therapy at the hospital and even got acupuncture at a traditional clinic... but I don't think they've ever touched that area?”

“Did you only receive treatment on your lower back?”

“Yes, they didn't touch that far down.”

“It's an unfortunate thing to say, but there are many places that, if you say your back hurts, will just treat your back and that's it.”

At a considerable number of hospitals, if you say your back hurts, they first take an X-ray.

And if it seems there's no particular problem, they just give you painkillers and perform physical therapy on the area that hurts.

Even at traditional clinics, if you say your back hurts, there are not a few cases where they just put needles in your back and that's it.

“No, then isn't that treating it too perfunctorily?”

“There is an unavoidable aspect to it as well.”

“What do you mean, unavoidable?”

“Because there are quite a lot of patients who protest, asking why we're treating a completely different spot when their back is what hurts.”

“Ah…”

Baek Hyeon-woo said while massaging the soft tissue around the sacroiliac joint.

“Aren't there similar people when you do vocal training as well?”

“Yes?”

“Saying, 'I came here to learn how to sing, so why are you making me do some strange exercise'.”

“……!”

Tae Jong-soo made a surprised expression.

“From what I've studied, singing isn't something you do simply with your neck and vocal cords. It seems that things like abdominal muscles also need to be trained for a proper sound to come out.”

“Yes, that's right. To be precise, you have to be able to maintain abdominal pressure and control your diaphragm. That's why I emphasize training that part... but everyone hates doing it. Saying it's just hard.”

Tae Jong-soo added with a bitter expression.

“It's one of the reasons why I hate working with frail kids.”

“If their core strength is lacking, that kind of training would certainly be more difficult.”

This would require a different kind of exercise than general weight training that increases muscle size or maximum strength.

“There are singers who come asking me to just look at how they use their throat... but I don't really want to do as they request. Because there's a best method, and I don't want to needlessly compromise.”

“You're similar to me.”

“Similar?”

“When I was at the hospital, it was difficult to perform the best treatment. I quit because I hated treating while compromising.”

Baek Hyeon-woo pressed his palms against Tae Jong-soo's sacrum and ilium.

Because he had to apply force to adjust the gap and angle of the joint.

“So in the entertainment industry, I have no intention of compromising.”

“That means...”

“To create the best idol, I intend to pursue the best method.”

Saying that, Baek Hyeon-woo put his body weight into it and applied force.

“And that's why I want to recruit the best vocal trainer in Korea.”

“Ugh…!”

Press!

Applying force in the precise direction and strength all at once, he adjusted the gap and angle of the two bones.

It was a treatment to alleviate the stimulation being applied to the sacroiliac joint.

Not just pressing down with finger strength, but a treatment that applies strong pressure by putting his body weight into it.

At that pressure, Tae Jong-soo let out a painful groan.

“Newstarz is prepared to endure whatever hell training it may be. So... all you have to do is train them thoroughly with the best method you can think of, sir.”

“Mmmph...!”

“Please give us a chance, sir.”

While being pinned under Baek Hyeon-woo, who was speaking in a serious voice, Tae Jong-soo squeezed his eyes shut.

***

After all the treatment was over.

Tae Jong-soo examined the documents he had received from Baek Hyeon-woo.

It was a document in which the details about the Newstarz members were written.

In particular, it was written in detail what kind of characteristics Yoo Jeong-ah, the newly welcomed main vocalist, had as a singer, and what role she would take on in the future Newstarz.

“This is a video of the version with Yoo Jeong-ah as the main vocalist.”

“……”

After also checking the video of the five of them singing 'Gravity' on the tablet, Tae Jong-soo stood up from his seat.

Unlike before, there was no pain at all when he stood up.

A tingling sensation remained due to Baek Hyeon-woo's manual therapy, but the discomfort he had felt until now had already disappeared.

However, he said that this didn't mean it was completely healed, and that to be fully cured, he would have to continuously receive proper treatment.

“Hmm…”

Tae Jong-soo looked out the window and recalled the past.

It was about ten-odd years ago that he failed to succeed as a singer and switched to being a vocal trainer.

He was able to achieve good results by adding his own know-how to the theories he had studied in America and providing training.

However, there were not a few singers who found Tae Jong-soo's training burdensome.

Saying things like, 'this and that is too hard, so please just have me practice this and that'.

The agency managers also asked Tae Jong-soo to do as the singers wanted.

The managers asked him to do so 'for the sake of protecting the singer', but it was an absurd thing to say.

Because receiving training from Tae Jong-soo and making it so that there was less strain on their throats was the real way to protect the singers.

In the early days, he received too much stress from such things.

Since in the relationship between an entertainment agency and a trainer, the trainer's side is the subordinate party, it was difficult to refuse the requests from the agency's side.

That's why Tae Jong-soo came to refuse training from the start for singers who seemed likely to make such requests.

This is also why he stopped accepting girl groups at all.

However... isn't it about time to slowly change that policy?

‘A girl group...’

Until now, Tae Jong-soo had been in charge of prominent singers.

For one, he was in charge of Lyeo-woo, Korea's top female solo singer.

A few male vocalists considered national singers are also regularly receiving training from Tae Jong-soo, and a boy group enjoying worldwide popularity also received Tae Jong-soo's training when they debuted.

However, he had never once produced results worth showing off with a girl group.

Isn't it time to produce results with a girl group too?

‘Newstarz... they have potential.’

Just now, Tae Jong-soo had checked Newstarz's song via video.

To be honest, there were too many problematic parts.

However, it seemed that if he fixed those parts one by one, they would improve quickly.

When he saw them in the past, he hadn't felt this level of possibility, but now, it was different.

Why was that?

Was it because a new main vocalist had joined, or...

“……”

Tae Jong-soo looked at Baek Hyeon-woo.

The manager from a physical therapist background, who wanted to pursue the best method without compromising.

If it was with that manager, who possessed a philosophy similar to his own... it seemed it wouldn't be bad to start a new challenge.

Thinking that, Tae Jong-soo slowly opened his mouth.

“Is any kind of hell training really okay?”

The two men's gazes crossed.